Friday, September 27, 2013

NEW SHOW: The Michael J. Fox Show Starts with a Double!

It certainly seems as if there are too few families spending any time together anymore. The Michael J. Fox Show attempts to be the antithesis to this, with the patriarch insisting on the family sitting down to meals together, only for everyone to choose to jet off in their own directions. Instead, the other family members seem to prefer eating on the go for every meal, as pictured below.
(Photo by: K.C. Bailey/NBC)
Fortunately, with a family this difficult, it might be a great thing that Mike is returning to work, as he will be able to spend more time fixing the problems there instead of in his own home. This will, of course, wreak at least some havoc as everyone makes the transition, but that will be half the fun! 

The Michael J. Fox Show "Pilot" (S01E01): Mike Henry left the workplace five years ago due to Parkinson's and has been pouring all of his energy into his family ever since. Teen daughter Eve isn't super-serious about school and is failing English (the very subject her mother teaches) when she doesn't take a The Grapes of Wrath project seriously. [she's also rather annoying.] Younger son Graham is an average boy, interested in LEGOs and whatnot, but whose room has been invaded by older brother Ian, who failed out of Cornell. Mike and Annie don't know that Ian failed out when his Economics class was graded on a curve, as he has been claiming to be starting his own search engine, u-search.net. Also in the mix is Mike's sister, Leigh, who lives in the basement of the building (near Amsterdam and W. 72nd, so Upper West Side), thanks to Mike helping her with rent. Leigh writes 200-word tidbits for US Weekly and is desperate to marry and have a baby. [and for attention in general, really.]

On his way to take the kids to school, Mike runs into his old boss, Harris, who tells him he should return to work. After some thought, Mike decides to go for it, and the family is very excited that he'll be out of the house more. [so excited, in fact, that it was Annie who set up the whole random meet-up between her husband and Harris.] Mike does a story at City Hall, and is supposed to be promoting his comeback on Today, but breaking news interrupts. [it could also be that Matt Laurer is his nemesis, and that's how the cookie crumbles, LoL.]

The Michael J. Fox Show "Neighbor" (S01E02): Mike goes upstairs to confront a neighbor's loud television, and soon has a small crush on the new resident of the building, Kelly. [she's watching Cake Boss! HOW do you forget to turn on the oven??] To make things less awkward (he talked in his sleep about Kelly), he convinces Harris to come over when Annie invites Kelly for dinner. The two hit it off, but Mike starts cock-blocking, seemingly unable to help himself. [haha! "Who wants to see my Emmys"?!]

Eve's friend, Reese, a lesbian, is coming over, so Eve tells her parents not to be awkward. Ian is the awkward one, though, right up until Eve learns that Reese isn't actually a lesbian, she just kissed a girl at a party. [this was random and we could have done with something more interesting, especially so early in the series.]

And, in a mini-storyline, Leigh is at the playground with Graham when some women think she's a single mother. Loving attention, she goes with it and vents about her struggles. [thankfully this didn't last!]
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